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Apr262018

Washington – Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and a group of their colleagues urged the leadership of the Senate Agriculture Committee to reject any efforts to politicize the upcoming Farm Bill. “For decades, the Farm Bill has provided comprehensive farm and food policy that is supported by members of both political parties. But increasingly, crucial must-pass bills are used as opportunities to attach environmentally harmful provisions that are incapable of passing on their own,” the senators wrote in their letter to Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow.

“We write to you to express our strong opposition to gutting bedrock U.S. environmental laws with provisions that threaten our air, water, lands, and wildlife. We urge you to bring forward a 2018 Farm Bill that is free of these ideological distractions,” the Senators added. The letter comes on the heels of the House Agriculture Committee’s markup of a flawed bill with scores of harmfulenvironmentalriders.

We are Members who have voted for a Farm Bill in the past or new Members who would consider voting for one in the future. However, we oppose any efforts to erode fundamental environmental laws and therefore urge you to reject anti-environmental provisions that bring unnecessary controversy to the Committee’s important work and place vital updates to agricultural and rural policy at risk.

For decades, the Farm Bill has provided comprehensive farm and food policy that is supported by members of both political parties. But increasingly, crucial must-pass bills are used as opportunities to attach environmentally harmful provisions that are incapable of passing on their own. Polarizing anti-environmental provisions will attract unnecessary opposition and complicate the bipartisan cooperation needed to pass this legislation. To avoid these harmful outcomes, we write to you to express our strong opposition to gutting bedrock U.S. environmental laws with provisions that threaten our air, water, lands, and wildlife. We urge you to bring forward a 2018 Farm Bill that is free of these ideological distractions.

Instead of undermining the Farm Bill with anti-environmental provisions, we strongly urge you to produce viable legislation that is free of unnecessary controversies.